The Sims Gallon Converters
The Sims 2 and Sims 4 Gallon Converters |image= |-|TS2= |-|TS4= |caption= Screenshots of the programs. |developer=David Stiefel |company=Dozerfleet Labs |client=Sims Community |purpose=Unit conversion tools themed after The Sims 2 and The Sims 4 |coding='Original' VB.NET Ports HTML5/CSS3/Javascript |releasedate='Original' January 22, 2006 Web ports October 15, 2014 }} The Sims Gallon Converters are trinkets made for the Dozerfleet Labs Widgets collection. The original version was a VB.NET gallon converter skinned after The Sims 2 and done up as part of the CITP 150 class that the Dozerfleet founder took in the spring of 2006 at Lansing Community College under the instructor Mave Coxon. In spite being a prime candidate for DzMD, neither converter was never released as part of that collection, being added to the Widgets section of the Labs blog in October of 2014 instead. History Original Sims 2 version Torn between interests in the Despair Gerosha version of Ciem and class work, the Dozerfleet founder desired a way to have fun with both. Making a Sims 2-themed VB.NET application seemed like the perfect way to go, as well as learning how to experiment with getting VB.NET to treat image files as command buttons. The first of these Gallon Converters was created in very little time at all, and was compiled on January 22nd of 2006 along with the Jewelry Jiddy's calculator. Both were re-creations of assignments from the QBasic class that preceded CITP 150. Web port In 2014, the Widgets section was added to Dozerfleet Labs' home at Tumblr. This section was for all items being offered that were not part of DzMD nor the Citric Sid Catalog. The original gallon converter was deemed suitable for inclusion as a widget. However, it needed to be brushed off and promotion for it had to be cleared. It was decided one of the ways to best promote its use was to make more than one version of it available. Some review was necessary in studying DHTML and Javascript to convert all the old code, but a web port of the converter was made. The "refresh" and "exit" buttons were removed for the web port, as the refresh wasn't viewed as necessary in the first place and exiting would require closing the window or tab that the app's web page was on. Some attention was taken, however, toward ensuring that the graphics were a little cleaner for the web port than what had been included in the VB.NET form. ''Sims 4'' reskin Beginning on October 13th of 2014, a reskin of the original form was made to celebrate the release of The Sims 4. This reskin, however, ran into some complications. Dozerfleet Main was unable to properly install the necessary libraries to export the VB.NET reskinned form as an EXE file, meaning no VB.NET form version would exist. A web port was created with minimal trouble, with the widget and source code both online as of the late evening of October 15th of 2014. Usage To use, all one has to do is enter a valid number and click on the Sim's face. Unit conversions will happen immediately. If an invalid entry occurs, the program will produce a pop-up demanding that the entry be fixed. The web port will simply display "NaN," for "not a number," as an error message. Differences amongst versions Other than the obvious skinning differences, there are essentially six different versions of the converter in existence. VB.NET Both the Sims 2 and Sims 4-skinned converters use essentially the same VB.NET code, with disclaimers to Dozerfleet vs. EA trademarks and ownerships. The Sims 2 one, however, uses the old Cormorant brand name, since it was made before May of 2006. As stated above, complications with EXE exporting have prevented the Sims 4-skinned VB.NET converter from being publicly released. Web ports Actual HTML widgets The converters also exist in HTML/CSS/Javascript formats, but with some differences. Most notably, the web widget versions of these programs don't contain "Refresh" nor "Exit" buttons. This is because those features are already implemented into the browser, and would make little sense to include in the form itself. With the exception of SimButtons and program logos, the forms are entirely resource-independent and carry on themselves the code necessary to generate every other graphical item within themselves. The Sims 2-skinned version contains a direct DHTML argument for assigning numeric values, whereas the Sims 4-skinned version makes formal Javascript function arguments in its code. The widgets were tested using Firefox, and found to work quite well in a Firefox environment. Tumblr-embedded widgets To give users a taste of what to expect, versions of the forms were embedded into Tumblr pages. The Tumblr versions have a tendency to not self-pad, nor pad at all with the same efficiency as their pure HTML5 cousins. They also tend to be wider, to make room for elements as Tumblr doesn't use real estate as efficiency in its parsing as pure HTML alone does. Source code is supplied for the Tumblr version of the Sims 2 converter, so that others using Tumblr can embed the widget on their own pages. The Sims 4-skinned version offers the source code for its HTML5 pure version, with subsections of supplied source code broken up into head and body information. The lack of full supplying of all head and body code, however, is to avoid the possibility of piracy with the shortcut icon, which was modeled after a PNG file that a site found through Google had ripped directly from the game. Easter eggs The Sims 2 versions use a generic Sim. The Sims 4 versions, however, feature Karen Mindoche from The Trapezoid Kids, as she appears in The Sims 4 Create-A-Sim Demo. See also * Jewelry Jiddy's Wedding Ring Store Discount Calculator * DzMD Category: Dozerfleet Labs projects Category: Completed projects Category: Projects from 2006